This invention relates to a strip merchandiser generally of the type disclosed, for example, in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,483,502; 4,546,943 and 4,718,627. The disclosures of these patents are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Each of the above patents discloses a merchandise display element in the form of an elongate plastic strip (i.e., a strip merchandiser) which, in use, is suspended from the front edge of a merchandise display shelf or the like to itself suspend apertured products, such as blister packs, for display. Commonly, the strips have a series of superimposed cutouts or the like which form integral upwardly facing individual support hooks for the products.
One particularly advantageous use for a strip merchandiser of the above type is as a replacement for a product display hook, commonly referred to as a J-hook, which essentially is a wire hook extending forwardly from a shelf and from which a group of products can be suspended. J-hooks, due to their protrusion in front of a shelf, may tend to snag on customers' clothing or even result in injury if accidentally encountered by a customer. Strip merchandisers on the other hand hang substantially flush at the front of a shelf and do not therefore have such problems to the same degree as a J-hook. However, due to the flexible nature of the support hooks in a strip merchandiser, it is not generally possible to suspend a significant number of products from a single hook, as with the more rigid wire J-hook, and accordingly strip merchandisers usually need a number of superimposed hooks to accommodate the same number of products as a single J-hook. This uses up plastic material and takes up space below a shelf from which the merchandiser is suspended.